If You Can Take One Punch from Me, You Win

Tang Cheng took a sip of hot tea from his enamel mug. "Youthful arrogance... sigh, he still fell for their scheme."

"Just take it as paying for a lesson."

Li Changqing strolled onto the arena. Seeing that he had truly accepted the challenge, Rong Heng's smile nearly split to his ears.

"He really is just a young man. So what if he's a genius? He still fell for my scheme."

If Li Changqing had truly refused his challenge today, Rong Heng would not have been able to do much about it. After all, this was against the rules to begin with, so he could not push things too far.

When he had learned in the competitors' tunnel that Li Changqing was actually a Lower-Rank Six-Star, he had indeed been shocked.

Neither Rong Heng nor the people from Jixing Martial Hall had expected that, aside from Jiang He, Rong City had another, even more formidable genius.

Fortunately, things had not gone beyond their expectations. Youngsters were still easy to manipulate.

As the two stepped onto the stage, the host decided to go all in. Things had already come to this, so he might as well stir up even more excitement.

He walked onto the arena and began interviewing them directly.

"Competitor Rong Huan, the final match for Group B's rankings is about to begin. Do you have anything to say?"

Rong Heng gave the camera a faint smile.

"I promised my teammates that I'd attend the martial hall's victory banquet tonight."

The audience immediately erupted into curses.

"He's way too arrogant!"

"That shoehorn-faced guy sure talks a lot!"

Rong Heng did not care in the slightest. That was the advantage of a nationwide chain martial hall. Once he secured a slot, he would soon head to other provinces and cities, relying on the honor he had earned to compete in the Provincial Competition.

A monster-infested place like Qingzhou was simply not somewhere Rong City's representative team could handle. Even qualifying for the Provincial Competition was difficult for them, let alone making the provincial team and representing Bashu Province in the intercontinental tournament. That would just be asking for a beating.

The host wanted to dig up something even more explosive and pressed on. "Competitor Li Changqing is a genius from Rong City, and he is also a Lower-Rank Six-Star. Competitor Rong Heng, are you really that confident?"

Rong Heng smiled casually.

"You called him a genius yourself. But geniuses need time to grow too. Let this old senior teach our new genius just how great the gap between Six-Star and Seven-Star truly is."

Below the stage, Kang Tianchen frowned tightly.

The more he looked at Rong Heng, the more unpleasant he found him. Yet he could not refute what the other man had said.

"Competitor Rong Heng certainly seems confident. Indeed, he is several years older than Competitor Li Changqing, and that can be considered an advantage."

Tang Cheng continued speaking with thinly veiled sarcasm, but even so, he had to admit what his words implied.

Li Changqing was weaker than Rong Heng.

Onstage, after Rong Heng had made his declaration, the host hurried over to Li Changqing.

"Competitor Li Changqing, Competitor Rong Heng believes that his age is an advantage. What do you think?"

At once—

Every gaze in the venue locked onto Li Changqing.

Feeling the attention from all sides, Li Changqing raised his left hand and held up one finger.

He stared at Rong Heng as though he were nothing.

"One move."

One move? Rong Heng frowned. What did that mean?

At the commentary desk, Tang Cheng was equally confused. "Does Competitor Li Changqing want to settle the match against Competitor Rong Heng in a single move?"

Rong Heng laughed. "Competitor Li Changqing, this is the arena. We have to follow the rules."

"What I mean is—"

"If you can take one move from me, I'll count this match as your win."

!!!

One stone stirred a thousand waves.

Such an outrageously arrogant declaration made Tang Cheng spray out a mouthful of tea.

He hurriedly adjusted his headset. Only after hearing the thunderous cries erupting from the surrounding stands did he confirm it.

He had not misheard!

"Competitor Li Changqing actually said he would defeat Rong Heng in one move? Does he have some kind of trump card?"

The host's voice came through the headset into the commentary booth.

Tang Cheng adjusted his microphone, countless thoughts racing through his mind.

"A Six-Star martial artist claiming he can defeat a Seven-Star martial artist in one move? That's impossible!"

"And Competitor Li Changqing has only trained for a little over a month. Even if he possesses a qi and blood secret technique, he can't possibly be more proficient than twenty-nine-year-old Competitor Rong Heng."

Tang Cheng could not figure it out no matter how much he thought about it. What gave Li Changqing such confidence?

"Or was this simply the unruly nature of a wild young man?"

Not only Tang Cheng, but even Huang Xuan beneath the stage was utterly baffled. Kang Tianchen frowned deeply.

The only thing he had taught Li Changqing was that one set of Tai Chi.

No matter how talented a contestant was, he couldn't possibly create his own martial art at a time like this, could he?

Taking a step back, Kang Tianchen was still willing to believe that Li Changqing had some hidden trump card that could force Rong Heng into a draw.

But an instant kill in one move?

Was this really just the arrogance of youth?

"But given Changqing's personality, he shouldn't be the type to make such wild claims, should he?"

On the arena stage, Rong Heng's expression completely darkened.

"Li Changqing, do you know what you're saying?" He felt utterly humiliated.

"You're just a Six-Star martial artist. Where do you get the nerve?"

Yet Li Changqing did not answer. He merely raised his index finger again.

"I'll give you one minute to prepare."

"You!" Rong Heng was so angry he laughed.

"One minute? No need! I'll let you know right now what—"

Boom!

Thunder erupted from the ground, and wild winds rose between heaven and earth.

"Thunder?" The host instinctively looked up, only then remembering that the stadium had a roof. Thunder shouldn't have been able to get in.

Whoosh—

The wind rose.

A gentle breeze swept across the entire arena. With Li Changqing as its vortex, the stage instantly became his world.

The referee's pupils contracted. Of everyone present, he alone felt it most clearly.

Such power!

This kid had really only practiced martial arts for a month?

Rong Heng's smile froze on his face.

In that instant, a terrifying loneliness, as though he had become an enemy of heaven and earth, tore him away from the world.

"...You."

He instinctively took a step back, and everyone present saw it.

"What happened? Why did contestant Rong Heng suddenly step back?"

Tang Cheng knew something must have happened on the stage, but separated by an electronic screen, he could not feel anything at all.

He could only stare helplessly.

Rumble—

Li Changqing stood at the center of the arena. Wherever he stood became the axis of heaven and earth.

He ruled heaven and earth, defining yin and yang.

This was true Unity of Heaven and Man!

To stand against me was to stand against the world.

"One minute," Li Changqing said slowly.

But to Rong Heng's ears, it sounded like thunder crashing down with overwhelming force.

The host hurriedly ran off the stage, while the referee quietly retreated to the edge of the arena.

"You may begin preparing."

Cold sweat seeped down Rong Heng's back. The Li Changqing before him had already surpassed his understanding.

In his eyes, Li Changqing held up the heavens above and tread upon the underworld below, like the Heavenly Law and Earthly Form of myth.

Divine light gleamed around him.

Rong Heng bit down hard on his tongue, finally clearing his mind.

Something was wrong with this guy!

At this moment, how could Rong Heng not realize that Li Changqing's strength was far beyond Lower-Rank Six-Star?

No, I still have a chance!

One move. If I go all out on defense, I can definitely withstand one move!

He really is young. Even if you've hidden your strength, you want to defeat me in one move?

Do you think you're the chief Senior Disciple Brother?!

"Hah!"

His blood and qi embraced the core and returned strength, powerful force flooding through his entire body. Yet instead of bringing Rong Heng even the slightest sense of security, this strength did the opposite.

His heightened perception only made him realize how vast the gap between himself and Li Changqing truly was.

A frog at the bottom of a well could see only the sky above that well.

Only by breaking free of its confines could one discover the vastness of the universe.

And he was that frog, crawling along the well wall, unable to look up and behold the enormity of the cosmos.

"Not enough, still not enough!"

Rong Heng began to panic. He had completely forgotten that the match had not even begun yet.

His blood and qi secret art erupted directly.

Boom!

The blood and qi within him surged madly as he squeezed every last bit from his physique.

It filled every limb and bone in his body.

The frog continued climbing toward the mouth of the well, only to discover that the higher it rose, the vaster the sky above became.

"Thirty seconds remaining."

With his arms folded across his chest, Li Changqing's indifferent voice struck Rong Heng's fragile heart like a death knell.

"Ah—"

Rong Heng was on the verge of collapse. He frantically unleashed his blood and qi, until even his capillaries began to burst. His power had already reached the limits of what his body could bear.

The frog climbed to the mouth of the well, its body swelling wildly like a balloon.

In the end, it completely blocked the opening of the deep well.

In his eyes, his enormous body had become as vast as the world beyond the well.

Ten, nine, eight, seven...

The countdown flashed across the screen.

Blood seeped from Rong Heng's nostrils, making his flushed face look even more ferocious.

I can block it!

He raised both hands and assumed a rounded stance, forcibly gathering all the strength in his body into a single mass.

As the timer made its final tick, time was up.

Rong Heng had also assumed his strongest defensive stance.

Xingyi, Praying Mantis Blocking a Cart!

Li Changqing lowered his hands. In that instant, the image of the Overlord in his mind changed. His sharply defined features softened somewhat, taking on the scholarly air of Li Changqing's own face as the two became ever more fused.

Yet that wild arrogance and defiance was bestowed upon Li Changqing in full, not diminished in the slightest.

An invincible aura swept across the entire arena.

In an instant, the immense pressure was like mountains of blades and seas of fire, rendering the entire audience silent.

Hoo—

The Universe Breathing Technique stirred heaven and earth.

I encompass all directions!

Li Changqing raised his right arm. Every movement commanded all things.

Within his Dantian, his blood and qi split into yin and yang before suddenly colliding.

Ten steps separated him from Rong Heng. The latter's enormous blood and qi burst from his body, forming an impregnable wall like a turtle shell.

Taiji, Thunder Division.

Ten-Step Divine Fist!

Boom!

Blood and qi erupted.

Thunder exploded in that instant, accompanied by howling winds as heaven and earth rang in unison.

"Block it!"

Rong Heng's face twisted viciously as he squeezed every drop of blood and qi from his body.

In that instant, the frog stepped out of the well. At last, it saw the sky that encompassed its entire world.

His blood and qi shattered.

His fighting stance collapsed.

The defense Rong Heng had constructed did not hold for even a second.

On the sturdy arena platform.

A spreading shockwave tore across the platform and, in the next instant, pierced straight through Rong Heng's entire body.

"Wah—"

His body was sent flying backward, blood spraying from his nose and mouth.

The blood and qi Rong Heng had gathered with all his strength was as fragile as paper before Li Changqing's strike.

Bang!

He crashed heavily to the ground.

At the commentators' table, Tang Cheng froze with a teacup in hand.

Below the stands, Kang Tianchen rubbed his eyes hard.

The audience was dead silent.

Wah—

Rong Heng spat out blood. His consciousness blurred, and in that instant, it felt as though he had seen the whole world.

"You..."

He wanted to speak, but his scattered blood and qi left him without even the strength to move his vocal cords.

His trembling left hand fell away, revealing the torn clothing across his chest.

A fist mark was starkly imprinted on his chest.

Li Changqing stood with his hands behind his back, an aura of disdain for the world rising around him.

He gave Rong Heng, lying on the ground, one last look, his gaze sweeping over the fist mark on the man's chest.

"This scar was left by me."

"It will be the glory of your life."